Westlock Minor Baseball is on the upswing this year.
Enrolment numbers have increased by as many as 38 this season, said Westlock’s Minor Baseball Association (WMBA) president Jennifer Lucyk. She said more prospective players have been calling her almost daily.
This season has attracted 150 players in total — a stark contrast to the 112 players during the 2011 season.
“We’re quite impressed with registration this year,” Lucyk said. “We had a good turn-out. A lot of the younger age groups filled up really fast and we had lots of girls come out and registered so our girl groups are all full.”
“We should have quite a few girl’s teams this year,” she added. “But the boys were a little low. We have no bantam team or midget team this year so those players have to play outside of Westlock because there’s not enough interest here.”
Although it is unclear why the enrolment from boys has declined, Lucyk said she is trying to pinpoint the problem in an attempt to find a solution.
“As a group we’ve been really trying to brainstorm to interest the kids at that age level a little bit more so we could try to get them to play ball and keep them there,” she said. “We had a competitive team, the mosquitoes, a couple of years ago and then the boys started fading away and there wasn’t enough to make a team.”
In fact, there were a few boys from the Westlock area that played ball in Athabasca last year because there wasn’t enough enrolment to create a bantam team.
“I’m not sure why, but as a board we’re kind of drumming up some ideas,” Lucyk said. “We may have lost the boys at the age group, but we would like to see a midget team again in Westlock, that would be really nice.”
Although registration has technically come to an end, Lucyk said applications could still be submitted before practices and games start. She said the association is always looking to generate interest.
“As soon as the snow is gone and the diamonds are dried up, we’ll get the kids out there,” she said. “I’m hoping for the end of April or the beginning of May, but it kind of just depends on Mother Nature.”
In addition to registration, the WMBA started conditioning exercises at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre last week and plans to convert the curling rink into a batting and pitching space to start gearing up for the season.
For more info, contact Lucyk at [email protected].
